Some Choice Begg Quotes

October 27, 2008

“On that day, when we are included in that scene, there will be no preoccupation with our buildings or with our history, because we will be consumed with the vision of Christ in all His wonderful fulness; and with that vision glorious our longing eyes will be blessed.”

“You see, what these scattered and beleaguered believers needed in the first century is actually what we need. They didn’t need a lot of self-help literature. They didn’t need books on how to bring up your teenagers. They didn’t need books on how to fix your finances. What they needed to know was that Christ had triumphed, that what he had done as a substitute had received the Father’s approbation, and that the significance of literally everything was tied to the fact that Christ was a triumphant Saviour! “

“The promise that God made to Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (which finds its great fulfillment in these dramatic scenes in Revelation) is really the story of all that God has done and is doing in his world. And the significance of 200 years in the scope of eternity, the significance of the history of a church like this, can ultimately and only be understood in relationship to these things.”

“Our lives are like ruined castles in the Highlands of Scotland. We drive around and look through the morning mist; if you squeeze your eyes together you can imagine what that ruin looked like when it was in full swing: when all the windows were in place, when the lights were on inside, when with the skirl of the pipes the laughter ensued and the laughter emanated across the hillside. But its all gone now. But there is a majesty to it; there is a glory to it. Its a ruin. But its a glorious ruin. That’s what the bible says men and women are: glorious as made in the image of God…. and yet ruined as a result of our rebellion against God.”

“The great lie of silly attempts at contextualizing Christianity for post-modern people is to suggest that God is simply very kind and to neglect to make clear that He is also fearful. For without the reality of His fearfulness, the kindness is an irrelevancy. And people who can think figure that out!”

“One of the reasons for so many empty churches in the British Isles is the equivocation from pulpits – is the inability of those who should know better to speak with the same kind of clarity that the Scriptures give us to speak. To prepare to be humble, to be honest, to be kind and yet to be clear.”

“Nowhere in this city will anyone have a problem with a T-shirt that simply says on the front ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Wear it proudly. People will ask for one! Do not wear the complete verse; you may get it ripped off your back. ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.’ That is the gospel. That is Paul’s message in Athens. That is the tireless, undying message that is to be brought to bear if we are going to reach our cities for Christ. May it be that when we are long gone – it Christ tarries and doesn’t return – that in 200 years time from now the city of Edinburgh will resound still with the praises of the truth of the glory of Jesus that in Christ alone our hope is found.”